In what President Felipe Calderón’s administration is calling a historic move, the state-run oil
company PEMEX awarded its first-ever contracts to foreign and Mexican private companies to
conduct oil exploration and extraction activities in the Carrizo, Magallanes, and Santuario fields
in Tabasco state. The move to bring in private investors to primary activities was made possible
by reforms the Congress approved in 2008 to overhaul PEMEX. But critics are suggesting that
the contracts go beyond what is allowed under the 2008 changes and therefore violate the
Mexican Constitution.